fast and curious

June 2013

Happy 100th to the Tour de France! The continental tour kicks off this Saturday with 22 teams from 12 different countries cycling more than 2000 miles through France. That’s a long ride, and can be fraught with hazard, so Curious offers you this Lesson of the Week from Luke of Art’s Cyclery. Learn how to select, adjust, position, and strap into your helmet so you can race with a clear (and safe) head.

Tweet to let us know: If you’re a cyclist, do you prefer riding on roads or trails?

At Curious, we believe learning happens beyond the classroom, and the office - which is why we’re launching our Summer Lesson Challenge. Here’s how it’ll work: vote for one of the lessons below, and the Curious crew will spend an afternoon giving it a go. Curious Cards to prove it!

Which lesson should our 18-strong motley crew take on?

Experimenting with ferrofluid: we’ve got more than a few science nerds on the team - plus, we love any excuse to hear Myles’ accent

Newspaper nail art: we nominate John and Thai as team leaders for this activity - photo evidence mandatory

Brewing beer: conventional wisdom says not to mix work with pleasure, but we think it’s high time we learn James’ nut brown ale recipe

Rock climbing: we love team recess in the park, but feel ready to harness up and take our athleticism to new heights

The poll closes on Tuesday, July 2nd at 5 PM PST. Our fate is in your hands - vote away!

As Wimbledon athletes flock to England for the 2013 Championships, you can find helpful tips for improving your own tennis game on Curious. Without further ado, the Lesson of the Week (look for a new spotlight each week!) comes to you from Rachael of Full Swing Tennis. Fit for tennis enthusiasts of all levels, this lesson teaches how to crush a forehand like Nadal, Federer and Djokovic.

Tweet to let us know: are you planning to hit the tennis courts this summer?

I just came back from nine days at Disney World with my family. Now, I've been to Disney World before and to Disneyland many, many times, but The Mouse* never ceases to impress me. It does so many things well, with an attention for detail that is simply astounding. And this comes from someone who isn't even really a Disney fan, but someone who just appreciates incredible execution.

Overall, they are really good at what they do: making and keeping kids happy. There's a lot we could learn from The Mouse, and a lot that I think would be useful to Curious teachers:

1. Keep them engaged

When you think of Disney World, you do not think of subtlety. We stayed at the Art of Animation Resort where a 40-foot plastic sea turtle watches over your children. The splash area has plastic sea creatures spitting at your children because, apparently, it's fun to get spit on by plastic sea creatures. And you know what? It's awesome.

That doesn't mean there's no room for subtlety in Curious lessons. But you can keep the information coming, and you can keep it coming fast. It's one of the benefits of Curious: students can easily rewatch sections of your lesson if they missed something. So if you keep throwing things at them, the students and the kids stay engaged.

2. Make them feel progress

This is something Disney does really well: they make waiting in line (almost) fun. For instance, my favorite ride (the best ride anywhere) is the Hollywood Tower of Terror, based on the timelessly fantastic Twilight Zone. They easily could have the line snake through the zigzag of bars and lead you to the elevators, but instead, they break it up. After you wait in line, you're lead into a "dusty, old" library where an old TV shows Rod Serling introducing you to the ride. And after that intro? You're waiting in another line.

And it's still great. You're still waiting in line for the actual ride but you're now one significant step closer. You've engaged your brain a bit (watching Rod Serling) and the wait feels a lot shorter.

We encourage teachers to do the same thing by breaking up their lessons into short sections and engaging them with exercises. The students will feel they're making progress on the lesson with every little bit of knowledge they pick up.

3. Prepare for failure

Disney knows its target demographic really well: parents who want to see their kids have a good time. And to that end, every cast member carries Disney character stickers and offer them to you or your kids if they look unhappy, hot, bored, annoyed, concerned about fighting in Syria, or even if they're happy. Who doesn't love a free sticker? If you play it right, you can cover your kids in stickers and save on sunscreen.

The best teachers I've ever had know the problems their students tend to have. They not only explain how things should be done, but also explain common mistakes that people make and explain why those are wrong. They're prepared for the inevitable failures of the learning process, like Disney is prepared for the inevitable meltdowns of the vacationing process.

4. Have a good time, or at least pretend you're having a good time

At Homestead, I ran the annual talentless Talent Show where I forced employees to do unspeakable things in front of their friends and families. And the one piece of advice I gave to everyone was this: Look like you're having a good time, because if you look like you're having fun, they'll have fun.

Whether it's the chemicals in the water, or fear of termination, or maybe, ummm... enjoying their job (?), cast members at Disney World are all smiley. They look like they're having fun and that's contagious. And students want to see the same thing: teachers who love their subject and can share that joy. And teachers who can genuinely express that joy on video are the best teachers on the web.

Now, the kids already want to go back; frankly, they want to live there. So now all I need is a Curious lesson that can teach young kids to plan, pay for, and take a Disney World vacation on their own, and I'm good to go. Anyone?

* I use "The Mouse" like they use "The Company" in the Alien movies: with respect and a healthy dose of fear. They're not reading this are they?

In a recent article from the Guardian, edX president Anant Agarwal declares that online education is undergoing a revolution - and transforming the entire education landscape in the process. Talking specifically about online universities, Agarwal thinks the online education “revolution” has 3 main benefits:

Students have increased access to education

Students receive higher quality education

Education is becoming democratized

At Curious, we’re excited about all those possibilities, plus a few more--and couldn’t help but jump into the discussion. Here are 2 additional ways Curious is transforming online learning:

Curious empowers and supports teachers, too. With Curious, teachers of anything can share their expertise with a global audience of learners, and earn some money along the way. We’re driven by the opportunity to give teachers quality tools to help them succeed online.

Curious is a place for lifelong learning, beyond the classroom and not only in academic subjects. On Curious, you can learn interesting and useful things like how to bead a necklace, plant a tomato garden or integrate a curve. You can spend 10 minutes or many hours learning something new, improving a skill, or diving deep into a subject about which you’re passionate.

Tweet to let us know: what gets you excited about the future of online learning?